David Flores Scoops a
$500 Omaha Hi-Lo Victory
Ninety players ponied up $500 to try and take down this second Omaha Hi-Lo event of Winnin ‘O' the Green. The final table was set at 1:30 am in the middle of Level 11 with blinds of 1,000/2,000. The 45-minute rounds for this event keep plenty of play available to the players.
The first elimination came on hand #7 when poker pro Danny Morgan was all-in on the river with A-Q-7-6 against Dan Halpern's A-A-2-9. The board was 5d-3-Kd-10-5 and Halpern's Aces Up scoops the pot with no low available. Danny Morgan finished in 9th place and earned $900.
On hand #16, three-way action yielded a board of Kh-4c-2s-4h-4d and Milton Giron was all-in on the turn with A-2-3-5. David Flores folded after the turn and Jennifer Bankston held the case 4 and showed down quad 4's. Milton Giron of Santa Fe Springs finished in 8th place and earned $1,125.
Steve Badger found himself on the rail for one round and he let the F-bomb slip. He returned on hand #37 and won his first pot making up for the last round of blinds he lost during his penalty.
On hand #40, Brandon Hoss was all-in on the river with A-4-5-9 against Jennifer Bankston's A-3-7-Q. Jennifer's dissimilar cards were to prove invaluable. The board was A-J-7-6-5 and Jennifer's 7 made a better Aces Up for the high and her live 3 made a better low. Jennifer scoops another pot and Brandon Hoss was eliminated in 7th place and earned $1,575.
Just two hands later, after the blinds have increased to 2,000/4,000 (Level 13), Don Halpern found himself all-in on the river against chip leader David Flores. David showed A-5-9-10 and Don revealed his 2-3-K-K. The board was Q-5-3-10-4 and neither player had a low. David's two pair (5's & 10's) bested Don's pair of Kings and Don Halpern collected $2,025 for his 6th place finish. David increases his chip lead again.
As hand #52 unfolded, David Flores was willing to take on another short stack. Lap Wan was all-in on the river with A-4-5-6 over David's K-Q-J-5. The flop was all David with K-10-5. The turn As gave David the broadway straight and Lap was drawing thin with his two pair. The river was neither an Ace nor a 5 (I actually couldn't make out what it was) and David Flores busted out another. Lap Wan finished in 5th place and received $2,475 of the prize pool.
It was a long stretch of 24 more hands before the next elimination. On hand #76, Nobuo Hamamoto, in his second final table appearance, short stacked and all-in with Q-Q-9-2 was against Steve Badger with A-K-J-9. The board was J-9-3-8-6 and Steve flopped top two-pair while Nobuo could not catch up. Both players had high-only hands so there was no low. Nobuo Hamamoto was eliminated in 4th place and earned $3,150.
The field had narrowed to the final 3 players. Jennifer was the shortest stack but it was going to be anybody's game to win. Once three-handed, a majority of the hands were played to the river. On hand #89, Steve Badger was all-in against Jennifer Bankston. Steve showed J-10-10-6 and Jennifer had A-3-Q-Q. The board was A-9-7-5-2 and Jennifer scoops with a pair of Aces for the high and a live 3 for the low. Steve finished in 3rd place and earned $5,400.
Heads up play commenced with David Flores having a 4+:1 chip lead over Jennifer. They played it out for about 6 hands and David offered a deal to end it and Jennifer seeing the uphill battle ahead after losing a couple of pots and half of her chips agreed. Both players congratulated each other and David Flores was declared the winner and Jennifer was the runner-up.
-Jay 'Bugsy' Siegel
BIOGRAPHY
David attributes his win to his selective and frequent bluffing at the final table. David Flores has been playing poker seriously for about 2+ years. He plays predominantly cash game Omaha $30/$60.
He occasionally plays No Limit Hold'em but says that is only for recreation. David is self taught, mostly from playing on the internet. He got his initial interest in poker from watching it on television. David is planning on playing the $1,000 Omaha event on Monday, March 19, 2007.
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